The Mary R. Dawson Predoctoral Fellowship Grant recognizes and supports graduate student research excellence. This award recognizes research excellence and promote a successful career in Vertebrate Paleontology by supporting the recipient’s dissertation research travel, data collection and analyses.
ELIGIBILITY REQUIREMENTS
- Current membership in SVP is required. If you have not joined or renewed your membership for the current calendar year, please do so before submitting your grant application.
- The applicant must be a PhD candidate (i.e., completed qualifying exam or equivalent) at time of application.
- The successful applicant will be chosen on the basis of scholarly contribution of the proposed project, excellence in student professional activities, and leadership and promise of a productive and important professional role in Vertebrate Paleontology.
- Students applying for the Dawson Grant are not eligible to also apply for the Estes Grant, Patterson Grant, Wood Award, or Lindsay Award in the same calendar year.
HOW TO APPLY
Submit applications during the annual application period via the SVP online system. You will be asked to provide the following:
1) A single PDF that includes the following items in the order listed below:
- Detailed description of dissertation research project (three pages, single-spaced maximum). Include the hypotheses you aim to test and proposed methods, the intellectual merit of the proposed research and its broader relevance to advancing the field of Vertebrate Paleontology, and a brief outline of organization of the research, the timetable and logistics of your proposed project. Proposals that exceed the page limit will be automatically rejected.
- Literature cited.
- Budget and Justification document (one page maximum). Include a breakdown of how the award would be used and a list of other research support (current and applied for), travel expenses, permit costs, professional expenses, supplies, additional expenses.
- Curriculum Vitae.
2) A recent photo of the applicant and a brief (300-500 word) bio (these will only be used for the SVP Awards Banquet if the applicant receives this award).
3) Arrange to have 2 letters of support (with full contact information for the senders) emailed to the SVP Business Office. One must be from your dissertation advisor and must include a statement that the applicant has been admitted to candidacy for a PhD (or equivalent). These should be emailed to the SVP Business Office by the supporters (not submitted with the application form) as per the instructions indicated in the online application form.
Be sure to name all uploaded files with your name and a description (e.g. John Smith Photo).
FOR SUCCESSFUL STRUCTURE AND CONTENT OF APPLICATIONS
- Please follow the guidelines for content listed under the first bullet point for “How to Apply”
- Successful applications for this award must present a hypothesis that the project will test.
- Successful applications for this award must describe the methods that will be used in the project sufficiently to allow their evaluation.
- Successful applications for this award must articulate the broader significance of the project and its potential results for the field of vertebrate paleontology and the broader community (scientific and/or public).
- To ensure your application addresses the critical points noted above, delineation of the project under subheadings is encouraged, based on the following (or a similar) model:
- Background
- Objective(s) and Hypotheses
- Methods (including Timetable and Logistics)
- Broader Significance to Vertebrate Paleontology and Other Fields
Applications for the 2025 Dawson Grant are now being accepted. Click here to access the online application form. The submission deadline is April 1, 2025, at 11:59 pm ET.
QUESTIONS?
Contact Vera Weisbecker, Chair, Dawson Grant Panel.